10/07/2026
List price used to be where the bidding started. Now it is where it ends.
Asking price and selling price have been drifting apart here for two years straight.
What has your experience been lately?
Halifax-Dartmouth, three months ending September, against the same quarter in 2025 and 2024:
Sale to list price: 97.4 per cent, from 98.8 and 99.9
Average gap between asking and selling: $15,728, from $7,120 and $635
Price changes in August: 146, from 136 and 122
Median sale price: $539,900, from $550,000 and $540,500
In August, 73 per cent of sales closed below asking.
The price move is small. Down about 2 per cent in a year, essentially flat against 2024. The negotiation move is not. The gap between what sellers ask and what buyers pay has gone from a rounding error to roughly $15,700 in two years.
For a seller, the launch price is now a negotiating position rather than a target. Setting it against what sold rather than what is listed is the difference between one round of back and forth and three price changes.
Figures: NSAR MLS® system, Halifax-Dartmouth region, three months ending September 2026.
Realty Partners Consulting Group | Royal LePage Atlantic